So, a couple of weeks ago, one of my profs contacted me out of the blue and asked if I'd speak to her online journalism class about my experiences as a button monkey content producer for a Major Internet Presence.

So, I got to go up and do that today. It was really quite strange, since I hadn't been back in B'ham since I graduated a year and a half ago. I didn't get to see all my old profs, which was a bummer, but I did see a couple of folks I recognized, which was cool.

The campus has changed a bit--there's a whole new building next to the Com building now. Very weird.

It felt good, though. I didn't feel overly nostalgic or like I was pining for lost youth (that happens when I visit Portland. Sigh...) I felt satisfied, in a way. Like I did what I came there to do four years ago, and it all worked out well and was a chapter of my life that I feel was successful. No regrets. No "what ifs" save for the few little bits of pining away for some of my hottie classmates with whom I would never have had a remote chance to hook up. ;)


The talk itself was rather funny, I suppose. I gussied up a little bit*, which sometimes helps me feel a bit more confident about giving presentations. (Yes, it's weird. Even with all my stage and performing and radio experience, I still have issues with giving presentations or speaking in front of a class or meeting. I have no idea why.)

I basically spent my whole hour in front of the class scaring the living crap out of them about their potential job prospects. ( And some other stuff, too )

I'm not a great judge of how groups of people are reacting to me unless they're actively engaged with what I'm doing, so I don't know how well I came off. The blank stares I was getting could've been rapt fascination or boredom or sheer, unadulterated terror about what I was saying. I dunno. My prof seemed to want me to come back at some point, so I guess I did OK.

Busy weekend coming up. A birthday party Friday and an engagement party Saturday. No word yet on any new jobs, but I'm sure something will come up eventually, and I'm fine with cooling my heels until then. I still have a novel to work on, LOTRO characters to level and Rock Band songs to master, so I'm good. ;)

( * )

These last two weeks of freedom have been sweet, albeit not without some annoyances. The amount of work that the house needs is really quite overwhelming, though I'm making dents in it. I've been a little sick on and off because I re-started my meds, and my tummy doesn't like those early on, so I've been a little slower on the mucking around than I'd hoped. Still, there has been progress.

I've also been slowly ramping up on the socialization thing. Can't wait for the party--two weeks out!

( Job hunts and ethics--strange bedfellows )

I have decided to form G.U.C.E: The Guerilla Union of Copy Editors.

Our motto: "An apostrophe is a terrible thing to waste."

We will roam the English-speaking world with our red pens, correcting flyers, ads and other printed evidence of ugly grammar, spelling and punctuation.

Fear us, ye foes of proper language!*
( Caffeine + tired = silly Shawna )

*This random message was brought to you by a flyer from our department that used the phrase "over $10,000."

*facepalm*

You know you're at a geek conference when you see people around riding Segways. Heh.

My first day of the conference has gone well so far. Some of the stuff they're talking about is over my head, but not by much--although I haven't been to any of the heavy-duty geek seminars.

I kind of miss being at school, though. I'll be missing a cycle and a half of the SPFH, and I feel bad about leaving them in the lurch like that, even though I'd planned for this well in advance. I also have a huge proposal due for my senior project, and I'll need to find some time in the next couple of days to work on that.

One of the coolest things I heard about today was the idea of browsers and desktop apps taking advantage of microformats. For the uninitiated, what this would mean, in theory, is that a bit of code in a page would specify what kind of information is being formatted, and then give the user the option to add that information to his or her app of choice.

For example, if you were looking at an event calendar, and wanted to add a given event to your Outlook calendar, you'd have the option of clicking on something (button, menu item, etc.) in your browser that would then copy that info directly into your calendar without having to type it all in. It would work something like how clicking an RSS link then sends content to your RSS reader of choice.

Obviously, there are security and spam issues to think about--anytime you have online content directly interacting with data storage, that can get scary--but I do like the idea. I especially like it from a reader service perspective wrt media sites. Virtually every news content provider has some sort of calendar of events or lists of contacts or addresses (think of classified ad info or capsule restaurant reviews!) and it would be seriously cool for the reader to just push a button and add all that info to their personal data management apps. From the perspective of advertising keeping news media going, making advertisers happy by offering them more ways to interact with potential customers is a lifesaver.

Perhaps the most fascinating bit, though, was a comment from one presenter about how when mobile devices are truly out there and content is being properly configured for them, print newspapers will finally die.

Scary proclamation, but he's right. The only reason that newsprint is still common (aside from a handful of Luddites) is that it's more mobile. Most people aren't tied to their desktops all day, and therefore don't have news access all day. Even with wifi, laptops still aren't completely portable (are you really going to bring a laptop into the john?) but pocket PCs and the like are. Yes, I've actually read and sent text messages and e-mail on my smartphone while in the bathroom. Sue me. But newsprint, of course, is static, limited-quantity and hard-formatted. You read what comics the editors think you want to read.

This doesn't mean journalism is dead. In fact, the need for people who are trained professionals in information gathering and assembling is greater than ever, now that so much raw information is out there, and there isn't a good way for most people to sort the good stuff from bullshit. The presenters in question acknowledged that, and acknowledged that professional editors are desperately needed to bring some order to the chaos.

Going to spend the rest of the day doing research for my project and otherwise catching up on reading. Big day at the conference tomorrow--lots of sessions I want to hit. And I also want to do at least a bit of touristy gawping, since I haven't been here in a bajillion years.

So, though things are fairly reasonable here at the moment (it snowed, then rained, now it's snowing again) the path between here and B'ham is icky, as is B'ham itself (the city of which apparently does not own a snowplow. WTF?)

And it's prepro day for the SPFH. And tomorrow's forecast looks even shittier, and that's production day.

Ack.

Naturally, this happened while the eds and reporters were far-flung for the holiday. But! We are using the wonders of tha Intarwebs to get an issue out anyway. Not just the online edition (the final design of which I finally have up and running, thanks to M) but the print edition, too. At the moment, everyone's scrambling around sending various emails organizing how we're going to get this done. We have a few eds on campus who can do the layout, and a few of us--like yours truly--can work from home, plus we're using Blackboard to do a few things, too.

Honestly? I'm giddy. I love shit like this. Not the weather--although snow is pretty and fun to play in, it makes getting things done a pain in the ass--but the mad scrambling trying to patch together an issue with duct tape and bailing wire. When I have six gazillion other things to do or when something Really Serious hangs in the balance, chaos annoys me, but when it's just a challenge to find different ways of doing things when the usual way fails--love it. I think one of my greatest skills is creative problem solving (Hm. That should be on my resume...) so when I have a problem that needs creative solutions, I'm really in my element (assuming I have any idea what I'm doing.)

The only bummer about all this is that I was supposed to register for winter term a few days ago, but there's a hold on my account (my latest parking ticket, of course.) I was going to pay up tomorrow, but that won't happen, now. I'm on the waitlist for the two j. classes I need, but I'm concerned that I might not get into my psych class, and may need to beg to be let in so I can get my minor. Meh. I know it's my own damned fault, but still. Annoying.

*falls over*

I just discovered that the Student Paper from Hell, thanks to yours truly, is actually scooping the Big Local Paper on this election coverage. They're not printing ongoing returns. Instead, they're running an AP story.

*dies*

ETA: Okay, they finally posted a pathetic little piece. It only listed a few races. Pfeh.

*flexes*

ETA2: Y'know, it's actually really good that I'm working on this tonight. It's keeping me busy, when I'd otherwise be sitting here chewing my nails to stumps waiting for word on the big stuff. I'm really nervous about the Darcy Burner race. She's currently trailing by about 2700 votes--thanks to a shitload of votes for Reichert in Pierce County--but there are about 450k votes left to count for King County, and only 80k for Pierce. It may be tight enough to trigger a recount. We'll see.

*twitch*

OMG I want this job.

Damn shame it's unlikely to be there when I graduate. But I almost feel like pestering them to create an intern position for me as an assistant to whoever does this for when I am available.

Technically speaking--and speaking of technicals--I'm not quite qualified for it, yet, and won't be when I graduate, either. But I think this is the kind of thing I want to do in the near future. I'm not sure where I'll start when I'm done with school--and I may take some time off for that whole spawning thing--but at least I have an eventual goal in mind, and I think it's a reasonable one, given my background and current skillset.

This is, of course, just a "job" goal. This is something I think I could easily reach within five years. On a long-term career goal level, I want to do a lot more in terms of writing than a position like this would allow for. But this is the kind of thing I can do to earn a paycheck while I'm working that direction.

I'd really prefer to start on a proofreading/factcheck track, rather than a reporting one, since I detest reporting so much. But since I'm more limited by geography than skills, I'll probably just go for whatever entry-level position I can get at the places I want to work. I'll probably try for another internship, too.

It may sound funny to those of you who have had "jobs" for a long time, but it really tickles me to see an actual job listing that I'm close to being qualified for that isn't just biological office equipment or other meaningless, low-pay drone stuff.

ETA: Heh. I'm clearly not qualified for it if I can't even properly close my tags. Sheesh.

Reason #75437698 I'm getting into this profession:

I want to clean up horrid things like this.

Thanks to flippet for the link.